Virgin Coconut Oil Health Benefits

There are just so many awesome virgin coconut oil health benefits it really is hard to know where to begin. Coconut oil is an absolute staple in my life, and for so many reasons. For example, did you know you can use coconut oil to aid weight loss? Well you can, and that’s just for starters – read on for many more amazing coconutty benefits.

1. WEIGHT LOSS

Can you believe that a fat can make you lose fat? Well YES, it absolutely can. Coconut oil helps with the fat burning process, and is known for reducing belly fat specifically. Belly fat is dangerous as it entwines itself around your internal organs, causing all kinds of damage, and in many cases can be the trigger for diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The medium chain triglycerides found in coconut oil can increase the amount of calories you burn by up to 5%. Now this may not seem like much, but just think about how this adds up to over time. It works out about 100 calories a day, which is 700 a week and 2800 a month!

These figures are based on the consumption of 15-30 grams of coconut oil per day and it is not recommended that you eat more than that.

You should add this oil INSTEAD of other oils and not as an extra, otherwise you will just be piling on extra calories, which won’t work and could go on as extra weight. So be careful…after all, actual over calorie consumption will usually mean weight gain unless you’re burning it off.

On top of its already great weight loss benefits coconut oil is a hunger represser, and its fatty acids make you feel satiated and full, meaning you will consume less and therefore take in less calories overall.

How to use coconut oil:-

You can use this oil in most of your cooking or shallow frying, and in baking and sweet products. It goes especially well with stir-fry’s and vegetable dishes, but remember you will get a slight coconutty taste from it, which personally I love, but you may want to experiment with it for yourself. You can actually buy taste free coconut oil if you really don’t like the taste of coconut, so all is not lost.

For extra fat burning power you should also be eating lots of fat burning foods as these will get things working a lot faster for you. Most of the foods from the above link are cheap, readily available, and easy to incorporate into your everyday diet.

2. WONDERFUL SKIN MOISTURISER

In fact, coconut oil does not just moisturise skin, but also acts as an all in one cleanser, toner AND moisturiser. How fantastic is that? 3 products rolled into one, and CHEAP!

It nourishes, feeds and protects, is anti microbial, anti fungal, and its lauric acid content makes it anti inflammatory as well. This means it’s also great for treating skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, dandruff, and dermatitis.

3. SKIN TREATMENT FOR ACNE

Coconut oil’s lauric acid content gives it the status of playing a big part in helping to clear acne when taken both internally and externally. This is because its anti bacterial components help it to ward off the nasty bacterial infections that worsen this condition.

4. ANTI AGING

Coconut oil helps repair skins collagen – which is obviously a dream come true for most of us. Collagen is a structural protein in the skin that keeps it smooth, elastic, and wrinkle free. It penetrates deeply into the skin and attracts the protein molecules we need to repair collagen.

Coconut oil plays a protective role for skin:-

Coconut oil also prevents skin from premature aging. This is due to the protective role it offers from our exposure to pollution, UV rays, and all the other nasty chemicals we put on our face and bodies in the form of soaps, creams and make up. It counteracts these things by forming a protective layer on the skin, and also by its antioxidant action which reduces oxidative damage.

There are many other natural supplements that will work well alongside coconut oil in protecting you from telomere aging. These telomers are strands of DNA that shorten as we get older and are responsible for us aging, therefore preventing them from shortening as much as possible is crucial to keeping us youthful both on the inside and out!

5. INTENSIVE HAIR TREATMENT

Coconut oil is seriously one of the best at home, deep conditioning hair treatments I have tried. It not only thickens and moisturises, but actually helps hair grow faster.

Melt a little and apply onto dry hair about an hour (or as long as possible) before a shower. Massage the oil into the scalp to stimulate hair growth, and then take all the way down to the ends (by the way, this really works, especially with a few drops of rosemary essential oil which is a known follicule stimulator!).

Beware, it does take about 3 shampoos to get rid of the oily residue, but you won’t need a conditioner.

6. ALL OVER BODY MOISTURISER

This is best done straight after a shower or bath whilst skin is still damp, as this will allow the oil to just melt straight in, seeping into the pores for intensive moisturisation.

7. IMPRESSIVE AFTER SUN TREATMENT

Not only does coconut oil marginally protect from the suns harmful rays with its SPF4, but it’s also great when used as a soothing after sun lotion. It really helps to take the sting out of sun burnt skin, whilst keeps it wonderfully moisturised.

8. LOWERING OF CHOLESTEROL

Although coconut oil contains 90% saturated fatty acids new data has shown that these are virtually harmless. It contains healthy saturated fats that may increase good HDL cholesterol in the body and convert the bad LDL into a more harmless form.

But, even knowing this you should always eat coconut oil in moderation for these benefits (around 2 tablespoons a day is enough).

9. IMPROVED BRAIN FUNCTION

Coconut oil may improve brain function in those with Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. Studies are showing that the fatty acids in coconut oil can increase levels of ketones in the blood, thus supplying more energy for brain cells and therefore reducing symptoms.

TO CONCLUDE:

As you can see, the virgin coconut oil health benefits are many, and it is easy, cheap, and highly effective for so many diverse uses. A large tub will last you quite a while, but be sure to buy reputable and organic brands to make sure you are getting top quality, if you don’t then these benefits may suffer.

Stefanie Taylor

I have studied nutrition for many years, and have since discovered that a plant based diet has been the most beneficial to my health and body. I have more energy and zest for life than I have ever had and this website is dedicated to helping others who wish to know more, and start out on this lifestyle.

3 Comments

Jucing Fan
· 08/11/2017 at 6:53 pm

This article is very informative! These benefits of coconut oil are just amazing, I never would’ve realized how helpful it could be in weight loss either, considering that it’s also ‘oil’ or ‘fat.’ But for cooking, for some it’s cool but coconut oil could alter the taste of particular food, don’t you agree? And I’m not quite sure of how much it works in certain levels of heat. But otherwise those other external benefits to our bodies, I couldn’t agree more with them. Growing up, my grandma will use this oil as our conditioner, although it does have a strong scent, it definitely made my hair stronger and shiny ;), so yeah this oil is just full of wonder.

Stefanie Taylor
· 08/11/2017 at 9:21 pm

Hi there, thanks for enjoying the article, and yes coconut oil is just amazing and I really do use it for almost everything. In answer to your questions, you’re right and maybe I should actually mention this in the post that it is not so tasty with all foods like potatoes and eggs (however, you can actually get smell and taste free coconut oil specifically for cooking) but it is great with all dessert type dishes and fragrant dishes like stir fry’s and curries. As for its smoking point it is actually one of the best oils to use at high heat as it stays stable at and doesn’t turn toxic. This is even the same for the extra virgin coconut oil, unlike extra virgin olive oil that should never be used for high heat cooking. Hope this answers your questions and thank you.

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